First edition. 572pp, illus, double page frontispiece map. Original brown cloth with gilt title. Extremities rubbed with minor loss, slightly cocked, else very good. Although only 33 years old when he published this, Richardson (1834-1869) was already an accomplished and well-known journalist. In the spring of 1865 Richardson made his first overland trip to California with Schuyler Colfax, Gov. Bross of Illinois, and Samuel Bowles of the Springfield Republican, and related his experiences on that trip in this, his second book, in which he said he strove to give a faithful picture of a “fleeting phase of our national life.” Also in its pages was an account of a trip from Sacramento to Salt Lake that Richardson made that year at the invitation of CPRR President Leland Stanford to inspect the ongoing construction of the line. He also relates his experiences as an anti-slavery activist in Kansas during the late 1850’s.